Once again, Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers have been booted out in the first round of the playoffs. This marks their fifth first-round exit in eight seasons. Clearly, there's something wrong with the team. They've been stuck in a mid-tier status for so long that it's getting depressing.

The thing about the Trail Blazers is that they can't just press the reset button and break the team-up. They have the dynamic duo of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum who are well-within their primes. The sensible thing to do to enter the offseason with the main goal of building around them.

To do this, they need to identify certain inherent weaknesses in their play style. They have a lot of statistics and games to look at. To help them, we've culled what we think are the three massive weaknesses of the Trail Blazers they need to address for next season.

Too Reliant on Damian Lillard

Lillard's heroics sure does provide tons of entertainment for the legion of basketball fans. However, from a perspective that basketball is a strategic and tactical endeavor centered on team play, the Trail Blazers' overreliance on Lillard seems to be their main weakness. A quick look at the statistics proves this. As for one, the Trail Blazers turn to isolation plays 10.2 percent of the time in the regular season. This ranked first in the NBA. Giving the ball to Lillard and letting him work makes absolute sense. But clearly, this type of offense isn't built for the long run. Sooner or later, defenses will figure you out.

As in the case of the Brooklyn Nets who rely on lots of iso ball, it usually leads to openings and a good number of assists. However, this isn't the case for the Trail Blazers who were the worst in the league in assists in the regular season with just 21.3 per game. It's certainly a shocking stat especially since the Blazers have some pretty good scorers in their squad. The Trail Blazers seem to have forgotten that basketball is a team sport.

Everyone should chip in.

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Never a Consistent Defensive Team

The Trail Blazers were the second-worst defensive team in the 2020-21 NBA regular season with a 115.3 rating. Last season, they ranked 27th, 16th in 2018-19, sixth in 2017-18, 22nd in 2015-16. This shows that Terry Stotts can come up with a stellar defensive playbook as seen in their performance in the 2017-18 season. However, it seems that defense has never been his strong suit. If you're a lifelong NBA fan, you know how the adage goes: defense wins championships. During their title runs, the Golden State Warriors were among the best defensive teams in the league. Not everyone noticed it because of Stephen Curry's dazzling display. The same goes for LeBron James' title runs with the Miami Heat. In fact, just look up any championship team and their defensive rating.

In addition, this also proves how vastly different the regular season is from the playoffs. The Trail Blazers under Stotts have made the playoffs eight straight times. They're a decent team in the regular season. Come the postseason, the Blazers get slapped down usually in the first round. Of course, there are many reasons for his. But the most apparent one is their lack of defense. It's in the postseason where teams have ample time to figure you out and build counters.

Terry Stotts

All these weaknesses point to one thing: head coach Terry Stotts and his coaching staff. The Trail Blazers possess a very capable group: they have two stars in Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum who are surrounded by veterans like Carmelo Anthony, Norman Powell, Jusuf Nurkic, Enes Kanter, among others. But for some reason, Stotts hasn't found a way how to maximize his players' talents.

There were whispers surrounding Stotts's future last season after the Blazers had to participate in the play-in tourney to qualify for the playoffs. Some believed the front office was about to sack him. Yet the Blazers kept their faith and kept them in the fold. And Stotts did some work by leading his team to a better regular-season record and an easy ticket to the playoffs.

But after another early exit, the front office should by now have realized that the Stotts era must come to a close. He's done a good job in his nine-year tenure, leading the team to eight consecutive playoff appearances. He is definitely a good coach. But the Blazers need a great coach if they want to win the title. Damian Lillard, one of the best talents we've seen, isn't getting any younger. They need to take make it work in the next two to three years.